Re DS/SG Future of Warfare

Okay, here I go being the village crank, but I'm going to have to
postulate a 
different future (sort of)...

1.  Most low-intensity fights NOT during major conflicts or incidents 
(ie--those instigated by local governors or settlers over a short period
of 
time) would be basically light infantry type conflicts.  Basically, this

would be for spur-of-the-moment kind of stuff.	Anything with any
planning or 
build-up time involved may bypass this level.

2.  Some minor skirmishes and most attacks during major incidents (not 
all-out war, but local stuff supported from outside) could be a mix of 
LI/militia and armor-heavy forces.  The reason?  In the GZGverse, power
is 
plentiful (and cheap) and anti-grav technology is available.  That means
that 
moving mass to orbit is relatively inexpensive (note the use of the term

"relatively").	Furthermore, if we assume that troop pay is consistent
with 
current Western levels, we find that salaries are a major part of the 
military budget.  Now, if we assume that a lot of equipment can be
designed 
either as modular designs or self-repairing smart systems, then the
personnel 
drain for maintenance operations can be reasonably low.  This leads to
the 
very un-historical point that it may be cheaper to ship lots of heavy 
equipment and just a few troops, than loads of troops and just a little 
equipment, once salaries are taken into account.  Think of a system like
a 
modified version of Maritime Prepositioned Equipment, though for
different 
reasons than currently used by the US.	Also note that this approach
could 
vary between nations--the ESU could be mostly LI for expeditionary
forces 
(assuming cheap wages) while the NAC could be more heavily weighted
toward 
mechanized and PA forces (due to the need for transporting the most
firepower 
for the least manpower).

3.  All-out war--anything goes--heavies for major assaults or defending
key 
locations while LI/militia handle "routine" planetary duties or support
the 
heavies.

Please also understand that I'm not saying this is the only way to go. 
I'm 
just suggesting that we need to not look at things just from the
currently 
popular perspective.  Also, I am a former Marine so while LI is my
preferred 
approach--not those big heavy targets people seem to like driving
around--but 
we need to look at our assumptions when pointing out how we think the
future 
will go.

Anyhow, that's my 2 pennies worth.

Rob